MITCHELL Moses has the opportunity of a lifetime and to give himself the best chance of taking it he needs to go to the top for a deep dive with the greatest halfback that has ever played State of Origin for NSW - Andrew Johns.
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He needs to pick Joey's brain until there is nothing left to pick on the subject of what is the Holy Grail as far as Blues players are concerned - how to win a series-deciding game three at Suncorp Stadium.
Imagine if Moses could pull it off. What a Gold Star it would be for him in a career that has promised so much but hasn't quite delivered in terms of any quality player's biggest goals. Yet.
And, make no mistake, if NSW are to complete an historic turnaround by winning in Brisbane on July 17 it can only happen if Moses excels.
He certainly can't afford an average game. Probably can't even afford simply a good game. Minimum, he's going to have to be very good, and quite possibly great again, like he was in Origin II at the MCG on Wednesday night.
Moses is the halfback. He's the man. Regardless of how well some of his teammates might play, he has to be the most influential player.
I've been a Moses critic, but I hail that performance against the Maroons. It's impossible not to.
NSW played close enough to the perfect first half of football to lead 34-0 at the break and Moses was at the forefront of it.
What more could he have done? He constantly engaged the defensive line at speed, either running straight or on angles, and often did just enough to draw a defender or two in before releasing the ball to a teammate.
And he used his skills both with the ball in his hands and off his boot to set up multiple tries.
No-one fluffed their lines in that spectacular 40 minutes. It was like Shakespeare, a cast of the finest stage actors delivering a brilliant performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Except for the Maroons it was A Midwinter Night's Nightmare.
But the job's not over. A million miles from it, or however many miles - or kilometres, I should say - there are between Sydney and the scenic delights of Australia's biggest country town, BrisVegas.
The betting markets will always give you a dose of reality and on Thursday bookmakers had installed the Maroons as slight favourites over the Blues to win game three.
Why? If you're a genuine league fan who is aware of the habits and tendencies of this strange and wondrous creature that is Origin, you'll have a pretty good idea. But I'll lay it out in facts and figures to make it as clear as day.
NSW have only ever won two series-deciding game threes in Brisbane. They lost three such games before they finally won one, in 1994, and had a draw (the Maroons kept the title, having won the previous year's series) and a loss before winning another, in 2005. Since then the Blues have lost six out of six of these encounters - in 2011, '12, '15, '17, '20 and '22.
We'll no doubt see Johns, on TV and in print, talking some about what lies ahead for Moses in Origin III, but it's them having their own private conversation that could be priceless for Moses and, ultimately, NSW.
It's not a pretty picture, is it, unless you're a Maroons player, coach, official or supporter, but it's the challenge NSW face and the only way they can possibly confront it is head-on.
They can't go up there wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin' (gee, sounds like a song). Stealing some more lyrics, this time from the Journey classic, in the words of the great Steve Perry it's got to be a case of don't stop believin', hold on to that feelin'.
And they have to be beyond prepared and included in that has got to be Moses having an audience with Johns. Like a world leader might have an audience with the Pope, except more important.
One of my greatest memories covering rugby league will always be witnessing the second and third games of the 2005 Origin series.
Johns had been through some major injury dramas and was barely back playing club football for Newcastle when an injury to the selected team for game two resulted in an SOS being sent out to the great man.
He answered the call like the future Immortal that he was, braining them in game two in Sydney as the Blues levelled the series at one-all. It was the greatest game he ever played. Then, in the decider at Suncorp, he monstered the Maroons again as the Blues won easily to clinch the series. I rated that in his top five games.
Joey just went out there and did Joey things: put incredible skill into action and made great things happen for his teammates, who were good enough to capitalise.
Queensland would've had a fair idea of what was coming, but they were powerless to stop it from happening. It was like their own "King" Wally Lewis at his greatest.
We'll no doubt see Johns, on TV and in print, talking some about what lies ahead for Moses in Origin III, but it's them having their own private conversation that could be priceless for Moses and, ultimately, NSW.
It might be just one gem of a tip from Johns on how to get your head right, how to handle the situation, how to block out the noise, how to trust your processes implicitly, or maybe how to attack a certain player, that could make a vital difference.
Moses is a professional. He'll be prepared. But you can't be too prepared for this. I'm convinced he and Johns will talk at some stage over the next few weeks. It makes too much sense for them not to.
